Second Half Defense And Late Run Lead Long Beach State To Seventh Straight Win

Thursday, February 3

Long Beach, Calif.

7 p.m.

Long Beach State University

11-9,6-1Big West

CSU Bakersfield

6-10,1-5Big West

CSU Bakersfield

Long Beach St.

Photo by: John Fajardo

Second Half Defense And Late Run Lead Long Beach State To Seventh Straight Win

2/3/2022 10:27:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score - CSU Bakersfield

Colin Slater finished with a game-high 23 points while Aboubacar Traore recorded his fourth double-double of the season.

By: Roger Kirk, Associate Athletics Director, Communications & Broadcast

LONG BEACH, Calif. – CSU Bakersfield and Long Beach State battled for 35 minutes with neither team leading by more than five points, but the Beach held strong down the stretch and came away with a 74-65 win over the Runners on Thursday night.

                Colin Slater led Long Beach State (11-9, 6-1 Big West) with 23 points on the night and added seven rebounds, part of four for Long Beach State in double-figures on the night. Aboubacar Traore closed out his fourth double-double of the year with 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Joel Murray added 16 points and Jadon Jones had 13 with five rebounds.

                CSU Bakersfield (6-10, 1-5 Big West) and Long Beach State went basket-for-basket through much of the first half that would end up deadlocked. The Runners shot 55% in the half, and would take a five-point lead at 19-14 with just over nine minutes remaining. Slater would catch fire down the stretch, however, going 3-for-3 from behind the arc in the half to help the Beach keep pace, going into the locker room tied at 39-39.

                In the second half, the Runners led as late as 6:27 by one at 58-57, but the Beach would spark a run keyed on defense. With a steal and slam from Aboubacar Traore giving LBSU a three-point lead and sparking the run, Long Beach State held the Runners scoreless for over four minutes as part of a 9-0 run.

Steal and SLAM for Traore! #GoBeach pic.twitter.com/9flabx62Bw
— LBSU Mens Basketball (@LBSUhoops) February 4, 2022

                A Kaleb Higgins three made the score 66-61, but a pair of Slater free throws pushed the lead back to two possessions and the Beach held CSU Bakersfield to just one more field goal in the final two minutes.

                Long Beach State's seven-game winning streak is the longest since the 2012-13 season.

                The homestand continues on Saturday, when the Beach hosts Cal Poly. Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. on ESPN+.